550 Case Feeder Issue

[ppknut]

I'm having a lot of trouble getting my .40 S&W to feed properly. The problems describe below DO NOT happen when feeding 9mm or .45 brass.

The .40 brass hangs up on the feed ramp part. I thought perhaps my ramp was a little dinged up, so I got a new one from Dillon. This has not helped. The brass will hang up in two locations intermittently.

The first hang up is when the brass just begins to move forward with the 'ram' pushing the brass. The .40 cal brass has a hard time finding the slot in the ramp. Instead of smoothly finding its place in the feeder slots it will move slightly left or right and jam on the diagonal cuts that are supposed to direct the brass into the main slotted portion.

The second hang up is at the juncture between the ramp and the shellplate platform. At this point, the brass will snag on the platform and not continue into the shellplate. I've tried to accommodate this slight difference by putting a very small piece of tape beneath the ramp to raise it just a bit, but this really doesn't fix the problem.

Any ideas? This is really quite frustrating to have happen every 5 to 8 rounds and kills production.

Thanks for any input.

-ppknut

[dillon]

Do cases slide smoothly through the feed ramp by hand?

[ppknut]

Yes, they do. BTW, the ramp is marked W and the adapter tube is purple, which should be the correct ones for .40

[dillon]

Those are the correct components. Have you readjusted the cam when changing calibers?

[ppknut]

Please elaborate and explain why that would possibly help. Especially when the shell doesn't even feed (and catches) from the very beginning of the feed ramp as it approaches the wedge cuts in the ramp.

And explain the process of readjusting the cam, when that doesn't seem necessary when going from 9mm to .45

Edited May 20, 2014 by ppknut

[ppknut]

I would still like to know how the cam readjusting works. This is not covered in any paperwork I've received from Dillon.

That said, I've attached a quick sketch of where the initial hang up occurs. The scale is a little exagerated to illustrate what is happening.

14229508972_438ec1bc06_c.jpg

[Youngeyes]

Page 11 of the manual
• Fine Adjustment of Cam: If you are
experiencing a problem with the case not
feeding all of the way into the shellplate
(and/or sizing die) or bouncing back out of
the shellplate, you will need to fine adjust
the cam for each and every caliber that you
are loading. You will want to start with a
case from the caliber you are preparing to
load in the first station of the shellplate. In
the following procedure you will practically
repeat the steps for setting up the cam on
initial installation with the exception of
letting the plunger rest on the case in the
shellplate instead of the housing. Pull the
operating handle down until roller on
casefeed plunger reaches about the center of
the flat on the cam and the plunger is resting
on the case in the shellplate. Loosen the
cam and slide it in or out until it is just
barely touching the roller, then re-tighten the
mounting bolts on the cam, be sure not to
release the handle until tightened. Once you
have finished loading the caliber that you
have fine-tuned the cam for, you will want to
return it to its original position by repeating
the setup steps in Note 9

If it's also catching on the edge you might want to lightly file the ramp slightly to help smooth the transition.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Youngeyes

[ppknut]

Youngeyes,

Thanks for the cam adjusting information. Now I know what this procedure is for.

On the other hand, While lightly filing the angled portion of the feed ramp to smooth it out may be of some benefit, I don't believe any careful filing will help with what I've shown on the sketches I posted. The case is tilting before it even reaches the ramp slot, as if it is catching on the next (upper) piece of brass as the ram moves forward.

[Youngeyes]

Run one case at a time. Manually drop it down the feed tube. See if you have the same problem. If it is hanging up on the next brass case this should eliminate it. Remember to have the ram up. If not the single case will fall over when it hits the bottom.

[ppknut]

I'll try that, one at a time, and see what happens.

If that shows that the shell is hanging up on the succeeding shell, then what? This would seem to defeat the purpose of the case feeder.

[ppknut]

One at a time works just fine. No hang ups. So, it may be that the stack of brass in the tube is putting enough pressure on the bottom shell to cause it to tip, ever so slightly, and catch on the primer of the next one in line.

A few other notes: In careful observation of the ram operation, I noticed that the piece of brass being advanced toward the shellplate always veers off to the side of the ramp (one side more than the other), in effect causing the shell to start the forward progress directly toward the diagonal ramp cuts rather than more centered in the slot. This convinced me to work on the ramp with a small file to smooth it out (round it) a bit.

After this judicious filing, I did a little polish work on the now more rounded ramp lips. All in all, I really kind of polished as many surfaces I could reasonably reach.

Last step was to lube my .40 brass, which is something I've never needed to do with 9mm and .45, just to make sure that the brass was able to travel as freely as possible into the ramp.

The end result was that the hang ups were reduced significantly. Before, I was getting a hang up every 5 to 10 rounds or so. I ran a batch of 50 and only got about 3 hangs ups. Progress made! But not completely solved.

I'm still curious if anyone else has experienced this issue.

One other factor that may or may not be significant......the brass I'm using is a batch of once fired that I purchased, as is. I noticed that the firing pin strikes on the spent primers were of the 'rectangular' form/shape and that this type of indent appeared to raise the cup metal more so than on circular pin strikes. I did try to isolate those cases and tried to determine if that was contributing, but it remained more or less random in any effect.

Edited May 21, 2014 by ppknut

[buckaroo45]

I'm having the same issue except the difference in levels is more like .040! The lower case feeder channel bottom is lower than the platform assy. A "little" filing ain't gonna make it. Got a msg in to Dillon just now (Sunday noon) but I'd like to get this running sooner. Any ideas?